90 Comments

During the ramp up of the 2016 election, several of my union friends were going door to door to encourage fellow union workers to vote for the democrats in November. At first, they thought it was a waste of time because historically most union members voted for them anyway.

To their surprise over half said they were done with Washington politicians with big promises and no action and had decided to vote for the businessman who in the end, lied to them. It became apparent, months before election day, that the democrats would lose. Unfortunately, the DNC failed to listen and ignored the growing frustration of their base.

President Biden is attempting to correct the decades of political complacency; however, it will be an uphill battle because politicians on both sides have been well compensated by big business to look the other way. It’s going to be up to all of us to pressure them into action, if we don’t workers will continue to lose.

Expand full comment

Yes, an uphill battle, but a necessary one. The non-college working class is still huge (more than half of the potential electorate). If Democrats continue to ignore their needs, Republicans will snag them with lies, paranoia, nationalism, and racism.

Expand full comment

Money is a powerful motivator.

Expand full comment

No matter how big the writing is on the wall, it seems to be ignored until it’s too late. You’re correct that money (and I’d add, distractions of rhetoric & blockades by the republicans) make this more difficult to get through now.

Expand full comment

The progressive wing of the Democratic Party doesn’t take workers for granted. People like Bernie and AOC fight for workers. The corporate Dems do everything they can to keep the progressives from gaining more power.

Expand full comment

Yes, and the corporate (and Wall Street) Dems had an outsized influence in the Clinton and Obama administrations.

Expand full comment

The biggest Liar painted himself as an outsider. Republican former guy was pandering to the workers and farmers to convince them he was an outsider in Washington. Some seem to believe that still. His wealthy donors knew better. Sadly, it's an old trick.

Expand full comment

Most people running for office are told they need a large war chest to even get off the ground. So those who want big donors tailor their messages to be more 'moderate' and stay away from progressive ideas. Or worse, they lie to the voters, like some who have become infamous, and we voters pay the price.

Expand full comment

Here’s another approach… rather than pitting one bully against the other (union v. management), start companies that are built to share profits with employees and sees the company as a community rather than a profit making machine. A trust owned company can do this, and ensure that things like egregious siphoning of wealth to the top is not done. Instead supporting employees and the community in which the organization thrives become paramount. It’s doable if the shareholders want it. So if you’re a business owner look into it (happy to help) and if you’re a stockholder willing to activate other stockholders changes can be made.

Unions serve a purpose - but the whole system could use some rethinking!

Expand full comment

Very interesting idea, Kate!

Expand full comment

Exactly! I found the union environment to be quite disgusting. Tolerating horrible , horrible employees and more! My first 15 to 20 years at Fedex were absolutely wonderful. No union was needed and there was profit sharing. It slowly disappeared.

I went to UPS just to see what the union environment was like after I retired from Fedex. I was shocked beyond belief at what went on there! I hate to base it on this, but I’m not in favor of unions. I’m trying to look at the bigger picture. Hopefully, the young folks will not tolerate the unions either, and come up with a better idea. Profit-sharing is the best move.

Expand full comment

I belong to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and Together with the Nation Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) have over 1 million Electrical workers that get great pay, benefits and pensions. The IBEW and NECA run joint apprenticeship training committees in over 1000 local unions throughout the United States and Canada representing both inside wireman that work for contractors and linemen that work for the utilities and outside infrastructure contractors. The secret is both have one goal. to further the electrical industry and give 8 for 8. We give a full 8 hours of work for our 8 hours of great pay and benefits. Our Union is growing, our industry is gaining more work and we are deeply into furthering the Democratic party that does support us. If every Union Employee does what they can to help their employer make a profit, then that employer will support them with a living wage and the benefits they deserve.

Expand full comment

There are many quite desperate young people in rural areas that need an opportunity to get these jobs. I hope your union considers pressuring the Biden administration to start up high school apprenticeship programs to train young people who will never go to college through internships. The German system seems to work well in graduating high school students into real jobs. We need a better approach here.

Expand full comment

The IBEW and NECA are looking for people right now to get into their 5-year apprentices so look them up on the internet to find out more.

Expand full comment

I’m sure there’s an analogy there… Unions are like hiring King Kong to direct traffic, or Frankenstein’s monster… Seems like a better approach would be to rethink the business model that necessitates a counter bully…

Expand full comment

They do. It is called Communism. Where everybody makes the same and every business is owned by the government. You can choose. America chose Unions and Capitalism. Sometimes it takes King Kong to squeeze some of the profits down to the workers.

Expand full comment

I’m not in favor of Communism. As in many things Either/Or is often a false dichotomy… look for the third (or 300th) way. It means thinking outside the box and I’m not suggesting it will be easy, or quick. But I think it’s worth investing in.

Expand full comment

Thank you! I couldn't dream of ever working again without a union. They changed my life completely! Love.

Expand full comment

You don't say what was "disgusting" in your experience. I never had such a great workplace experience without the union!! The extra OT/Holiday pay, time & 1/2, double time pay, great vacation time that only accumulated the longer you were employed, time off for pregnancy & family, great med/dental insurance! Here's a big one: that I didn't have to kiss my supers ass for a routinely scheduled raise. Say HALLELUJAH!

Whip cream topping on my union: Layoffs/consolidation/corporate greed hit the co. I worked for. Because I had a union, I got a 2 years paycheck=$82k as I walked out the door. When does any worker get that when they are on their own? Never!!

Unions save lives. Love them.

Expand full comment

Hi, Andrea . What I meant was Kerri g employees abuse one another , destroy packages , make racial and sexist remarks , sexual remarks , managers yelling and threatening employees , Blatant Favoritism .. I could go on and on … however , I received everything you mentioned above while at FedEx ! I skulked away with 2 years pay and 5 years medical premiums ! What non union company does that ?! FedEx …. But yes , things changed horribly once the shareholders were in charge . We had routinely scheduled raises (entire 35 years ) and all the benefits you described above! 401k matches , profit sharing (initially) tuition refund , etc!

Expand full comment

The main problem, as I understand it, with ESOPs is that it’s still structured to value financial share value above all else, and there is a fiscal fiduciary assigned who MUST do whatever is in the Employee Shareholders best interest, even if it means selling to a vulture fund when the employees don’t want that to happen if it maximizes shareholder value.

Expand full comment

Yes, we had that at FedEx as well. The first 15 years or so. Then everything changes, as you know. It’s all about the Shareholders that really don’t care about employees

Expand full comment

None of these things would be an issue if we had normal elections where each candidate has a small, equal amount of money to spend on their campaign. Get the money out of politics, which has essentially become legalized bribery, and suddenly you get only people who WANT to do the job of a public official. Suddenly you get to hear ideas and legislation that will actually impact the country instead of lies, propaganda & misinformation for the sole purpose of getting and keeping a job they have absolutely no interest in actually doing. We have to change the incentive structure in politics and until we do, it feels like we will be stuck in this loop.

Expand full comment

I’ve always been pro union, and, of course, still am today. So, I hope you are correct.

But, to be successful, unions will have to overcome their history of graft, greed and corruption. Then, there is the other problem of the pied piper Donald Trump constantly beating the country with his hate stick that all too many people are happily and eagerly following.

Obviously, this hopeful turnabout to unionize will take time. Hopefully it’s shorter rather than longer.

Expand full comment

As people get poorer and more tired, they will refuse the bad deals. The younger generations are more educated than decades ago. There is social media too. That will supply incentive to fight back. Candidates who support unions will be more popular if they deliver.

Expand full comment

People really need to be educated on how much unions have helped the working class. It’s irrefutable. But we have also seen that unions can be corrupted. Once again, dark money and the wrong people leading need to be removed as soon as it becomes obvious they aren’t doing what they were elected to do. Like our US politicians, we have to stop looking the other way and stop worrying that it will look bad to call these people out!

Expand full comment

Two things that I believe are hurting unions in the private sector:

1)Right to work laws -- My state, Virginia, is a right to work state. I saw first hand the effect this law had on Steelworker's Local 8888, a large union representing shipyard workers at Newport News, Va. Many shipyard workers would not join the union to save on paying dues, and this weaken the union considerably.

2) Perception of Corruption -- Stories in the 1970s and 1980s of Mafia control and corrupt leadership in the Mine Workers union, the Teamsters, and unions associated with cities like New York City, severely damaged the reputation of unions with the American people. I saw corruption first hand as a brief member of the Teamsters union in the early 1970s while selling beer in Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Expand full comment

At the risk of becoming a pariah in this space and others, I propose that strengthening union power and increasing participation across the board may not be the panacea for the Democratic Party and our nation that many seem to think. Clear evidence that unions can cause harm to citizens including our most vulnerable ones should be taken into consideration in any worthwhile policy efforts. The near stranglehold of certain unions/related associations (I'll let folks fill in at least one blank here) on municipal governments is one example. Pervasive corruption and/or racism in some is another. Splitting the benefits of monopoly/oligopoly power between corporations and strong unions at the expense of customers and other stakeholders in situations of inelastic demand/supply is yet another. The ability for management and labor to commit mutual destruction with collateral damage to others may be "part and parcel" of the system but is worthy of consideration. Nuance is needed as in most things although not simple or convenient. Also the overall need not to "throw out the baby with the bath water" as the saying goes is crucial.

Expand full comment

Maybe it’s time to reinvent unions as organizations that work for everyone.

Expand full comment

"It was in those years of cross-racial organizing that unions experienced a Solidarity Dividend, with membership claiming to levels that let unions set wages across large sectors of the economy. More and more of the country's workforce joined a union on the job, with membership reaching a high-water mark of one out of every three workers in the 1950s. The victories these unions won reshaped work for us all. The forty-hour workweek, overtime py, employers health insurance and retirement benefits, worker compensation-- all these components of a `good job' came from collective bargaining and union advocacy with governments in the late 1930s and '40s. And the power to win these benefits came from solidarity-- Back, white, and brown, man and woman, immigrant and native born."

- Heather McGhee (2021). The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. One World: 117.

Expand full comment

Thanks, Paula. In re-reading my post and comments, I think that I made some valid points but did not give much hope and gave the impression that I do not appreciate the past, present, and potential benefits of unions. I observe that the proposal for promoting greater union membership does not seem to be resonating with enough voters or else it might be happening. This seems to call for a reimagining that will require greater respect for the experiences and opinions of voters and a willingness to see the drawbacks as well as advantages of the union movement and everything else within the context of an overall vision of less concentration of power in the hands of a small percentage of people. I see us in this self-selected group as a team. I hope to be a helpful team player. Regarding what I wrote initially, I'll leave you with the following quote urging us to keep thinking and acting together. “Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.”

– Neil Gaiman

Expand full comment

Thank you, Ed. Thoughtful discussion is always important. Neil is right and I’m glad you quoted him. I love the idea of this group being a team. Together we can do great things.

Expand full comment

All attempts to find and implement panaceas (which will then run without human intervention, somehow) are counterproductive. But so long as that's avoided, an increase in union power will help clear away a lot of labor abused

And anyone who is searching for a policy or institution which can .never ever have any undesired effects is on a fool's errand.

Expand full comment

Practice makes perfect.

Expand full comment

I believe that you make valid points. As I have mentioned in previous newsletters, I have mixed feeling about unions, particularly police unions. However, at this particular time, I believe that more unions are needed, particularly for workers in the service industry. I was particularly struck by the efforts to organize at Starbucks when I was listening to Michael Moore's podcast, link on substack below. What impressed me was the organizers' desire to make Starbucks the company the best it can be.

https://www.michaelmoore.com/p/starbucksworkersunited?r=7xhvo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Expand full comment

Ed Wrenn ; You sound like an anti-union lawyer or something like that. Let's give up on Democracy since it is messy while trying to form ' a more perfect union'. Unions are better for workers, if they are not corrupt.

Expand full comment

The problem has been that Republican administrations thought they had a duty to suppress unions and spread a lot of negative propaganda. Sure there are some problems. But not to the extent that "customers" and "other stakeholders" systematically lose anything. BTW government employees do not always have the right to strike or take other actions available in the private sector.

Expand full comment

As a retired union worker, could you please supply a link to any article that shows this damage that you claim unions do to the less fortunate among us?

Expand full comment

One of many: https://ssir.org/articles/entry/union_constructions_racial_equity_and_inclusion_charade

I am certainly not an anti-union lawyer as someone thought I seemed to be. I am anti-oversimplification of complicated problems. It will be worse for union-workers and everyone else not to recognize limitations and room for constructive change. From canvassing for Democratic Party candidates, I know from personal experience that pointing out union support can backfire in both primaries and general elections. Enough from me today for real this time!

Expand full comment

Thanks. I worked in the automotive manufacturing as a member of the UAW and wasn’t that keenly aware of such hierarchy in the construction field.

I did see some of that in GM but for the most part I mostly saw equality at least on the factory floor.

Expand full comment

You claimed the possibility of such a title, far be it for me to disagree.

Expand full comment

Let you not wonder then why the Democratic Party and our country, since the Republican Party has us on the road to ruin, is in trouble, since so many do not tolerate disagreement or even discussion bordering on it. I support unions but only up to a point which does not include the control that police unions have over our citizens as one example.

Expand full comment

Thanks Ed Wrenn, I shall not wonder. Happy to know that on disagreement and debate we agree.

I have never been ln a union, but have always known and appreciated the benefits I have experienced because of those who have.

Expand full comment

Ed Wrenn ; I don't see a 'police state' in my area. Indeed, the local towns are creating alternative mental health responders to work independently of the police, with separate funding. They can also co-operate with the police when needed. This frees up police to deal with dangerous situations instead of cases where mental health interventions or social services are needed. Responders with appropriate skills and training are there for each type of call.

Expand full comment

There are police unions and there are police unions. I am lucky enough to live in an area where progressives have everyone working together. The police are relieved of work for which they are not specifically trained. The ones I know are happy to not have that responsibility anymore.

Expand full comment

Union officers live in a fishbowl and are highly regulated. Whereas corporations are authoritarian, unions are required by law to be democratic. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/olms/laws/labor-management-reporting-and-disclosure-act

Expand full comment

I could go on, but my main point is that thoughtful reexamination of more things is worthwhile, as time, energy, heuristics, and imperatives for action allow. I also favor a big tent approach for the Democratic Party as necessary for success at the polls and in our society. Speaking of time, it's time for me to do other things today. Thanks to all.

Expand full comment

Thanks for yet another informative article and video. The problem is that a majority of the blue class workers support the Republican Party and still believe in trickle down economics. In the process, they shoot themselves in the foot.

Here’s an example. According to the article below,”MARCH 12, 2017

Reporting from Washington — Americans who swept President Trump to victory — lower-income, older voters in conservative, rural parts of the country — stand to lose the most in federal healthcare aid under a Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, according to a Times analysis of county voting and tax credit data.

“Among those hit the hardest under the current House bill are 60-year-olds with annual incomes of $30,000, particularly in rural areas where healthcare costs are higher and Obamacare subsidies are greater.

“In nearly 1,500 counties nationwide, such a person stands to lose more than $6,000 a year in federal insurance subsidies. Ninety percent of those counties backed Trump, the analysis shows.”

https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-obamacare-trump-supporters-20170312-story.html?_amp=true

Expand full comment

This is a great example of cultural economics whereby populist liars and manipulators persuade people to vote against their economic and welfare interests in pursuit of some cultural value that the exploiters pretend to favor. I could say more!

Expand full comment

It is so sad but true.

Expand full comment

Union activity is an important training ground for young people. It is both a social activity and an important stepping stone to understanding the class nature of society and where their economic interests are in the political system. One hope for the future is the fact that educated young people are being forced into the regimented controlled alienating production process in which they are treated not as people but as productive units and they are rebelling against this. Let’s hope that unlike the majority of the baby boomers who sold out rather than continue the movements that changed society, the generations coming up will understand that without major changes capitalism isn’t going to share the wealth with them anymore. Amazon is busy building the 21st Century equivalent of the company town with the company store and they are the company workers making a 19th Century unlivable wage. And by the way here come the robots replacing both manual and office labor.

Expand full comment

The baby boomers grew up and had families and some started co-ops and many never gave up. They started their own businesses. It really is ageism to generalize about a group of people who were born in a certain era spanning what? A couple of decades or more? Blaming a generation of people consisting of all classes, races and sexes, coming from several different cultures is a flawed gerneralization.

Expand full comment

You need to talk to some of the young people today and what they think about satisfied grandpa playing golf and having the time of his life. Yes I’m generalizing but if you look at who voted for Bernie and who voted for Biden and Trump it a pretty good generational split.

As a political person from the baby boomer cohort I was acutely aware of who was about me me me and who was interested in the good of society. You will recall Ronald Raygun and the yuppies. And you will also recall how once all the me me types didn’t see the draft breathing down their necks and accumulated a bit of wealth they ended up like the Clintons.

Expand full comment

P.P ; I am 70 years old and have never played golf. I am still working in my very small business. If young people have a negative viewpoint it may have something to do with disinformation going out there finger pointing at a particular age group. It's easy to find a scapegoat. I don't think about the 'me me' types to whom you allude. I never liked Reagan, even in the movies. I did not have the draft breathing down my neck, but lost good people whom I went to school with and might have married. Some people accumulated wealth, but I would not have wanted to end up 'like the Clintons'. I'm broke, but serene. 'Don't go mistaking Paradise for that home across the road.'

Expand full comment

You are personalizing your response and I am generalizing. My generalization is based on the voting in the Democratic Party Primary for President last year. Bernie with his free tuition and package of reforms got the under 45 vote. As the demographics got older the shift was more toward Biden. Trump also in the election did far better amongst older adults than amongst younger adults. So I base my opinions on that.

Maybe I’m wrong here but what I see amongst the majority of elderly Democrats isn’t the spirit that you exhibit. They are not much of a model for young people with a few exceptions like Bernie who actually got arrested fighting for civil rights. They voted for Biden either out of party loyalty or believing in his promises. They are pushovers for a huckster like Trump. They keep voting for the politicians that sell out their grandchildren’s future while grasping empty promises.

Of course that is not you. But the people on this thread who are as I describe know who they are.

Expand full comment

P.P. ; I think it is better to not use glittering generalities. I do not know where you get your data, but am a firm believer that there are lies, damn lies and statistics. I don't trust polls either. When was the last time you were asked about your political views and who you voted for? I guess I find it hard to believe that all these older people voted for tRump. I live in a progressive area filled with people of all ages. A Bernie Sanders rally I attended a few years ago was a sea of grey and white haired folks dotted with young people, some with children, and middle aged folks. It was mobbed with a thousand or so outside in cold weather. There were plenty of college age people too. It was at U Mass. Amherst. A Huuuge crowd!!!

Expand full comment

After each of the Presidential Primaries there were polls published showing which demographic groups supported which candidates. In both 2016 and 2020 Bernie outpolled his centrist opponents amongst younger Democrats. Similar polls taken after the Biden Trump election showed young people going for Biden over Trump. Trump did better with older voters than younger voters. Older voters today are primarily baby boomers. So there is definitely a problem here. Maybe after a lifetime of compromise with the status quo grandpa just can’t understand why young people don’t understand that everything takes time. As one public official retired from one elective office and moving on to another once told me when I showed him a map of his community, mostly underwater from sea level rise with the worse case global warming scenario, “I’ll be dead and buried long before that happens.” Me me me, you get it?

Expand full comment

When driving around old Bayonne N.J.,

(The Peninsula of Industry) as a youth, working with my business owner father; WW2 submariner, work-a-holic, honest to a fault. I once asked him why the Democratic Club was a hub of activity and The Republican Club was boarded up ? Being a man of few words, he surprised me with his response. "Well son, that is because we live in the birth place of The Democratic Party. And any working class person who votes Republican is a fool."

Years later as an IBEW union rep, working for N.J.Bell Telephone, I was obliged to attend quarterly union meetings. Our business at the meetings was similar to those of the public utility members and were somewhat patented complaints which were dealt with ipso facto and succinctly. Each meeting then dealt with private contractors who were obliged to use union labor on commercial, industrial and institutional work. Atlantic City was making a resurgence after being devastated by the riots of the late 60's and all but abandoned by any investment by corporate or private concerns(huh). And Trump, leaping on low real estate prices was hip deep in that resurgence. EACH & EVERY meeting which I attended ended with those private contractors adamantly complaining about Trumps non-payment of contracts, legal maneuvers to avoid payments of debt and the ill-affects of such on our union members and working folk. "Any working person who votes Republican is a fool." Great insight Dad !

Expand full comment

My union wages supported me and paid for my college tuition. I graduated debt-free. I took a thirty percent cut in pay and loss of benefits when I left union employment for my first job in the the white collar world. That was before the federal government started selling "rugged individualism" and joined with corporations to bust unions. Without organization individual employees are at the mercy of employers.

Expand full comment

I am pursuing my issue. I say I am deluged for requests for money as if the one with the most money is inevitable winner. I don’t know what they are saying with my money. I might not agree.

Politics should not be like sports teams. Is there any evidence Democratic writing convinces Republicans?

My suggestion is to glorify Independents and perhaps we can turn some Republicans into Independents

Independents pride themselves as looking at both sides

Expand full comment

I agree 100 % with Robert Reich. Despite the gloom and doom of COVID and the gradual transformation of the Republican Party into the Trumpist (Fascist) Party, we need to get out and VOTE!

Expand full comment

How workers continue to believe the bosses, the billionaires, the oligarchs are on their side is stupefying. How workers continue to get sidetracked by racial, cultural, and conspiratorial red herrings promulgated by those same oligarchs and their minions-federal and state legislators and judiciary- is maddening. Even most unions are self-absorbed and self-dealing. Even the foundational truism that workers worldwide are more closely bound as sister and brother comrades than with their own national cudgels of the oligarchs-military and law enforcement-seems dead. American workers are too cowed, too gullible, too ignorant and just too damned scared to act as one. And government's not going to help.

Expand full comment

Side note:

Anti-union forces of course prefer not even to discuss the (de)merits of unions: they prefer to finesse them as old-fashioned. In this century, they've even felt comfortable dropping "and corrupt" from the dismissal.

But of course the existence of unions is a social invention, not a phenomenon of biology or physics. So long as we as a public choose to permit and support unions and pro-labor policy, so long as we demand that politicians enact these desires, unions can thrive, and we should do the work to make them thrive-- as you say so well, Mr. Reich.

It reminds me of the rhetoric surrounding social security since the 1970s-- as something that's going (inevitably) to collapse-- when it's a policy construction, and of *course* it can survive if we have the political will to continue it. I remember saying this to a bemoaned in the 1990s who was Simply Stunned, not having thought of that before.

Expand full comment